Southern Ming Rebel Army

Meng Jun took advantage of the early hours and pulled Meng Bizhi, Lin Shiqi, and Han Xiong to discuss the organization of the rebellion army. Meng Bizhi and Lin Shiqi meant to follow the old system of the Ming army, because the soldiers were more accustomed to it. Han Xiong disagreed with this, and Meng Jun also felt that it had little to do with the military system. It was not like changing to a modern military system would make the army invincible. Besides, the former Ming army's frequent defeats had little to do with the military system. It was simply because the soldiers were treated too poorly and the national finances collapsed. At the same time, due to insufficient government finances, the weapons and equipment were inferior, and firearms were reduced to things like fire sticks. The infighting of the civil service group made it impossible for the upper echelons of the army to concentrate on the military. The generals of the Ming army often faced not only the enemies on the opposite side, but also the civil servants in the rear, the eunuchs who supervised the army, and sometimes even the emperor was an enemy.

Meng Jun decided to reorganize the rebel army based on the Ming system, and then slightly modified it. Ten people formed a team with a team leader, three teams formed a sentry, with a sentry officer and a commander, three sentries formed a flag, with a small flag officer, a fair commander, and ten cooks, five flags formed a camp, with a camp officer, two deputy camp officers, one chief commander and one deputy chief commander. Currently, the army has 1,720 people, divided into the Central Army Camp, the Left Camp, the Right Camp, the Rear Camp, and a Scout Camp. Meng Jun changed the original camp name from Meng to Henggang Rebel Army, which was taken from the name of a mountain near the outskirts of Suzhou. Han Xiong wrote the words himself, one copy read "Together for Death" and the other read "Expel the Eastern Tartars". The middle copy read "Henggang Rebel Army". After writing, it was immediately handed over to the masters in the rear camp who were good at needlework to sew (O_o)

Meng Jun led the Central Army Camp, Han Xiong led the Left Army Camp, and Meng Bi led the Right Army Camp. Scouts were the elite of the army. In Meng Jun's opinion, only Lin Shiqi could be entrusted with important tasks. Lin Shiqi was born in Guanning Army, and he was an excellent rider and horseman. Scouts were the eyes of an army. The battlefield was changing rapidly. The side that got the news earlier could make a better deployment. After Meng Jun and Lin Shiqi discussed, Lin Shiqi led the scout camp. However, on the one hand, the troops were insufficient, and on the other hand, there were too few people who could ride horses. Lin Shiqi's scout camp had no more than a hundred people, but there were enough horses. A hundred Liaodong horses from the Eight Banners were seized, and there were nearly a hundred mules and horses in the baggage camp.

Meng Jun formed a personal guard of twenty brave men. Meng Bian was naturally the captain of the personal guard. However, at this time Meng Bian took his men back to Changshu to rescue the old lady. Meng Jun selected a brave man who fought in Lizhuang, Gao Yi, as the deputy captain of the personal guard. Han Xiong brought more than 1,200 villagers, including more than 60 literate people. Meng Jun appointed most of these literate people as officers at all levels, and left two people (recommended by Han Xiong) as clerks beside Meng Jun.

The four of them discussed the organization and specific matters for a whole morning. As time was urgent, they kept everything simple. After coming up with the specific regulations, the four of them began to work on the organizational structure. By the time the organization was completed, it was already dark. Meng Jun knew that although the rebel army had been somewhat organized, they had not been trained and lacked weapons. Their combat effectiveness was at most equivalent to that of the former Ming Dynasty's garrison troops. If compared with the Eight Banners or even without the Eight Banners, even the Green Camp of Li Chengdong or Liu Zeqing could not be confronted head-on by the untrained Henggang Army.

Meng Jun urgently needs a base to replenish his troops, food, and weapons. Suzhou City is naturally Meng Jun's best choice at the moment. Of course, he should not rush up and besiege it immediately. Using the current strength of the Henggang Army to attack Suzhou City would be courting death.

As night fell, it was extremely hot during the day, but at night there was a cool breeze that blew away the heat of the day. At this moment, in a large tent outside Lizhuang, Meng Jun, Han Xiong, Meng Bizhi and Lin Shiqi were sitting on a stool with bare chests, eating watermelons, feeling very comfortable. A little further away sat two young men, Yang En, whose courtesy name was Mude, a native of Xiangcheng, Suzhou, and also a scholar, and Wu Zhuang, a native of Suzhou, also a scholar. The literary style in Jiangnan was flourishing. After the hair-shaving order was issued, a large number of scholars gave up their pens and joined the army, and they all rose up to resist the Qing Dynasty. Some Green Camp generals who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty also raised the flag of rebellion. At this moment, the two were wearing short shirts, holding kettles, drinking water while listening to Meng Jun and others discussing the situation.

"Dorgon thinks that he doesn't need to care about the people's will. As long as he has a strong army, recruits a group of surrenderists, and wins over the centrists, he can easily suppress the people's will. Shaving the hair and wearing different clothes is not the same as the barbarians entering China, but the Chinese. Dorgon is ambitious and wants to change China with the barbarians, so we have to resist," Meng Jun said to everyone.

Han Xiong took a bite of watermelon, spat out some watermelon seeds, wiped his mouth and said, "Yes, Lord Meng said it very well. It's ridiculous that those pedantic and cowardly people said that the Ming lost its power and the Qing chased it, and the Qing Dynasty was the Ming Dynasty's destiny. If you ask me, which dynasty in history has won the world by slaughtering cities and killing people so wantonly? Even the former Yuan Dynasty did not force everyone to shave their heads like the Mongolian three-banded hair."

Lin Shiqi touched the corner of his eyes and said coldly, "The Eight Banners are rampant all over the world. The Guanning Iron Cavalry couldn't stop them, nor could Li Zicheng's million-strong army. We are even less able to stop them with our current number. However, Duoduo's army is still in the north to escape the summer heat. When autumn comes, the Eight Banners will surely move south."

Meng Jun nodded when he heard this and said, "Yes, we don't have much time left, so I decided to wait for an opportunity to capture Suzhou. Suzhou is an important place in the south of the Yangtze River, and its wealth is immeasurable. If we can take it all, great things can be expected." Meng Jun paused and looked at everyone. Seeing that no one disagreed, Meng Jun continued, "Suzhou city is strong and cannot be attacked by force. You can speak freely for any suggestions you have. We are all brothers in the account." Hearing this, the two new clerks next to them, Wu Zhuang and Yang En, both showed a sense of honor.

"Sir, we know very little about the situation in Suzhou City. I suggest that we send someone to investigate the city's defenses to see if there is a chance to attack the city," Meng Bizhi stood up and bowed to Meng Jun.

Lin Shiqi also suggested, "I will take a hundred cavalrymen from the scout battalion to attack the city gate. I will select two hundred elite soldiers in the army and put them in armor to follow closely behind. As long as the gatekeepers don't have time to close the gate, we should be able to seize Suzhou with a surprise attack."

Meng Jun stood up and paced back and forth. Lin Shiqi's suggestion was too risky. If the gatekeepers quickly closed the city gates, the siege would be hopeless and the Suzhou defenders would be more vigilant, which would greatly increase the difficulty of taking Suzhou. After thinking for a while, Meng Jun asked Lin Shiqi to pick a few smart old subordinates to spy on Suzhou's current situation. At this time, the new clerk Yang En, who had been silent, stood up and sat down again, looking like he wanted to say something but hesitated. After Meng Jun found out, he smiled and said to Yang En, "Mu De, just speak your mind. Speak freely."

After hearing Meng Jun's affirmation, Yang En said, "I have a cousin who is now in Suzhou City. I heard that he is the captain of the Suzhou Green Camp. I don't know the details, but I think I can go to him to find out the situation."

Hearing this, Meng Jun's eyes lit up. "Very good. Then you follow the scouts on the road. You will be the first one. If there is nothing to gain from your uncle, the scouts will act later." Meng Jun thought for a moment and retorted, "Not appropriate. Then I will let Gao Yi follow you and you two will act separately. This is more appropriate. If you need anything, just let me know."

Yang En shook his head and said, "I don't need anything. I'll just go with Captain Gao. It's safer with fewer people and smaller targets." Everyone continued to discuss for a while, and gradually felt sleepy, so they all left.

On the morning of the second day, Meng Jun led the Henggang Army to camp outside Lizhuang Village and began to train soldiers, formations, and running. When Meng Jun was training soldiers, Han Xiong found Meng Jun with a constipated look on his face. He hesitated for a long time before saying to Meng Jun, "Sir, I have never seen your method of training soldiers. Why are they always running and just standing?" Meng Jun said embarrassedly, "I am training the soldiers' physical strength and obedience first." Meng Jun had never trained soldiers in his past life or this life. He could only train soldiers according to his memory of time-travel novels. He first trained formations and then practiced gun formations, and then added firearms and artillery. This formation was invincible. Meng Jun had no other good way to train soldiers now, so he could only try his best now.

"Um... Lord Meng, I have three volumes of military books left by Mr. Qi in my home. The book has 14 volumes. I have the first three volumes in my collection. I can go back and get them and give them to you." Han Xiong knew that Meng Jun often read the Art of War, but the Art of War was too high-level, while Ji Xiao's new book had detailed explanations of specific matters. Han Xiong wanted to give the book to Meng Jun, and Meng Jun naturally accepted it with pleasure.

The rest of the people began to act according to the plan of last night. As the saying goes, man proposes, God disposes............